Knife and Fork: Hearty, healthy meal can be made with few ingredients

By Rich Lopez | jrlopez@mrt.com

Published 6:40 pm, Monday, September 15, 2014

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Knife and Fork: Hearty, healthy meal can be made with few ingredients

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With the cold snap last week, my first thought for food was something nice and warm. But it was also wet and I just wasn’t up to driving through puddles and dodging the rain. Instead, I opted for a home-cooked meal - if only I had a can of soup with some crackers.

Scouring my pantry and refrigerator yielded depressing results. Craisins and pretzels weren’t going to cover it. I thought about how my mother would always whip up some glorious meal out of what seemed like nothing. Taking inspiration from that, I battened down the hatches and took another look.

I can’t call it magic, but somehow I was able to have both a hearty and healthy meal. To boot, after eight months in Midland, it would also mark my first homemade meal. My first apartment didn’t have a kitchen in which I felt comfortable, so cooking was relegated to frozen pizzas in the toaster oven. But my new apartment has a spacious cooking area and ample counter space, and by golly, I deserved it.

My saving grace was my nighttime reading habit. I prefer cookbooks over novels and had checked out three from the library the week before. After some quick perusing, I learned that miso paste was a viable alternative to stock. With a new determination, I braved the downpour to hit the Asian Market on Illinois Avenue for miso paste and this would be my only purchased ingredient. I had to make mom proud.

The result was a comforting soup that was also easy. With the following ingredients that were already in my kitchen and with some trial and error, dinner wasn’t too bad.

Cauliflower Soup

1 head of cauliflower

1 cup chopped onions

1 teaspoon pre-minced garlic

Miso paste

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Water

My dad, a retired chef, told me that soups are both hard and easy but can always be made. I opted for easy. Like most recipes, I started with a usual base by sautéing the chopped onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes.

While that cooked, I broke the cauliflower into small pieces. I then added the cauliflower and 2 cups water and let it simmer until the cauliflower softened, about 15 minutes.

As it simmered, I stirred in the miso. I was inexperienced using the ingredient. I equated it to concentrated bouillon cubes, so I started with 2 tablespoons per cup of water.

After the cauliflower was soft, I pureed the contents in a blender. Initially, it was too thick, so I added 3 cups of water, with a tablespoon for each cup.

With salt and pepper to taste, the soup came out with a wonderfully nutty flavor, and the miso added a very subtle hint of tartness where stock would have been more salty. The consistency was wonderfully smooth with subtle grainy texture.

I estimate the recipe would serve about six.

Mom would be proud, but it didn’t stop there. I have a thing about pickle juice. In my heart, it seems a waste to throw away. Knowing I had mixed greens, I figured I could whip up a dressing and with olive oil and garlic already in play, I made a tart vinaigrette.

Homemade Salad Dressing

1/2 cup dill pickle juice

1 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon pre-minced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

I combined all the ingredients into a blender and after a couple of quick pulses, I put into a mason jar. The pickle juice gave the dressing a nice punch without any overpowering flavor.

A drizzle over the greens with a fried egg on top, a nice warm soup and a beer (it was a celebratory moment) proved to me that yes, I can make something from nothing - just like mom.